profitable in orange county. that's great news. >> and double breasted suits are coming back. >> it's great to be back. i was gone for a whole week. >> were you really? >> you didn't notice, did you? >> hey, it is great to be back. i hope you guys are having a great last week of august. last week of the summer. we will see you tomorrow. >> chuck, the top of his show. >> hey, chuck, will you wink at me? we'll see you tomorrow on "morning joe." very little doubt. that's how the white house is assessing whether the assad regime is behind the alleged chemical attack in syria. now president obama is considering a military strike with the help of some international allies. also this morning, old dominion new tactic. after months of a battle to the bottom against democratic opponent mcauliffe, cuccinelli finds somebody else to run

against, his fellow republican and embattled governor bok mcdonnem bob mcdonnell. there actually is going to be a republican foe for the democrat to face in november. we're going to talk to former giuliani deputy who hopes gotham keeps up an interestingly long streak of not electing a democratic mayor. good morning from washington. it's august 26, 2013. this "the daily rundown." my first reads of the morning. the obama administration is stepping up plans for military action against syria put together the international coalition the white house says is needed for a strike. every action the president took this weekend, whether it was saturday's meeting with his national security team or round of phone calls to u.s. allies suggest it's less a question of if than when. options on the table include cruise missile strikes from navy destroyers and submarines in the mediterranean. bombs could be launched from u.s. fighter jets without actually entering syrian airspace. targeting syrian command and control or airfields from which

chemical attacks could be launched. today, u.n. chemical weapons experts begin their inspection of the suburban damascus towns where doctors without borders estimate that at least 355 people were killed and more than 3,600 injured by a chemical attack last week. the u.n. spokesman says the inspectors were deliberately shot at multiple times as they proceeded with the inspection. though the syrian government finally did allow inspectors access after stone walling for days. u.s. officials quickly dismissed the officiaer, saying at this p no one in the international community is doubting chemical weapons were used and they were used by assad and that five days of relentless shelling has only obliterated the evidence. saying, it is too late to be credible. with russian president vladimir putin certain to block u.n. action against syria, the

administration is looking for a mandate from nato allies and perhaps the arab world. the president called counterparts in britain and france. according to the white house, the president expressed grave concern about the reported chemical attack and discussed possible responses by the international community. today, british foreign secretary wi william hague said the u.n. security council has not shouldered its responsibilities. >> cannot, in empthe 21st centu allow the idea that chemical weapons can be used with impunity, that people can be killed in this way and there are no consequences for it. so we believe it's very important that there is a strong response. >> so if the u.n. won't do it, thanks to china and russia, then the u.s. is trying to build support perhaps in the arab league. secretary of state john kerry spoke with counterparts in jordan, in the gulf states and

of course turkey as well as with european allies. u.s. officials say the president has not decided how to proceed but they want to make sure he has a clear plan in space. in washington, calls are growing for limited military action. >> i think rallying support around our nato allies. hopefully they'll come to congress with an authorization as soon as we get back. i do think action is going to occur. >> that is another question. does action take place before congress gets back? some lawmakers are warning of a protracted military intervention in syria, noting it will not be popular with the american public. >> i think we can't let ourselves get into the situation where this becomes a springboard for a general military operations in syria to try to change the dynamic. that dynamic is going to be long term, very difficult and ultimately established and settled by the syrians. >> bottom line, the

administration is dropping every hint action is coming. the question is, what will they do? how long will it take to act? what will the international coalition look like? just as the president is trying to build support, edward snowden strikes again. according to documents leaked, the nsa bugged the united nations general headquarters in new york last summer. hacking into its video conferencing system. a violation of the host agreement from the united states and the united nations. the nsa also bugged the eu mission in new york. and 80 diplomatic missions around the world as part of a project called special collection services. a very awkward time for german chancellor angela merkel. it's election season and her opponent is using the new revelations against her. it's less than a month until the u.n. generally assembly opens in new york. a very uncomfortable session of world leaders. back to syria.

today in an interview with the russian newspaper, syrian president assad warned the u.s. against military intervention. saying, quote, it will be a failure, just like other wars, starting with vietnam and up to our days. nbc's richard engel joins us from turkey. he was in syria this morning. assad's comments and how he is saying it almost seem to foreshadow that he knows a strike is coming. >> we just left syria and people we've spoken to who are in the rebel movement certainly think something is coming. their question, will it be big enough? will it be a symbolic attack to make the united states feel better? look like it's taking decisive action? or will it be enough to give the rebels momentum and weaken the

regime? that's what they are entirely determined to do. we heard similar comments from the ones you're hearing from world leaders. from average people, refugees, that if no action is taken that it will encourage the bashar al assad regime to use more chemical weapons. if you look he history of the conflict, it began as a peaceful protest. then live ammunitions started to be used. then helicopters. then scud missiles. now according to numerous reports chemical weapons. if no action is taken now, we could see a lot more chemical attacks. so people on the ground were almost desperate asking for a not just u.s. military intervention or international umbrella intervention but one that's serious enough to not just register on a symbolic scale. >> all right, richard engel in turk turkey, just back from being across the border in syria. getting to the point of what the debate is here in washington.

which is there's going to be action but how big is it, what does it look like? for more on this crisis, i'm joined by steve clemon, the washington editor at large for the atlantic, also founder of the american strategy program at the new america foundation. richard was just getting to sort of the central debate going on in the situation room right now, in the pentagon, which is what does the action look like. there's no doubt there's going to be action, but how intense is it and is it going to be a game changer? >> i think it's a limited action. that in the eyes of the world will look like a compelling punishment of those that were responsible or involved with the deployment of chemical weapons. it will not give those who want to see a tipping point blow to the opposition what they want because the white house i think, and i support this, is going out of its way to make sure we distinguish between the chemical

weapons violating between the international norm and separating that from syria. that's what they should have done the first time they reacted. where they basically said we're going to give arms and support to the opposition. and the white house for a time sort of began to shoulder the burden of taking on assad. they're not doing that this time. they're telling everyone, that is not our game here. we're trying to basically shore up a very important international norm. >> there seems to be a u.s. foreign policy consensus around what you just described. take a look at what colin powell described. >> i have no affection for mr. assad. i've dealt with him. i know him. he is a pathological liar. but at the same time, i am less sure of the resistancresistance. what do they represent? is it becoming more radicalized with more al qaeda coming in? what will it look like if they prevailed and assad went?

i don't know. >> this seems to be the prevailing view of everybody in that room. when you look at everybody trying to say, where's kerry, samantha powers, susan rice. everybody, including depmpsey - >> dempsey went into great detail. >> they're all in something's got to be done here to send a message and punish assad for using chemical weapons. there seems to be university agreement that they know the other side, they don't know what they're getting. >> that's absolutely right. we even had a journalist just escape from captivity who was being held not by assad but by the al nutra front, allegedly an ally in part of the syrian opposition. maybe not an ally of ours but a key part of the syrian opposition movement. fighting assad. so in that sense, there's big worry. the russians are trying to muddy this up. trying to basically, you know, send u.n. inspectors in. >> we had news this morning they're trying to say any u.s. action would be a violation of

international law. that is also my understanding of one of the sticking points, one of the delays. >> what i don't understand is russia -- >> is the search for international legal justification by the united states government. >> they're going to probably find it in the arab league or they will find some way through the iaea to take an extraordinary step which we've done before. epb embedded in the language -- >> the punishment of somebody proliferating weapons of mass destruction. >> right, remember, he had a major summit on controlling not only nuclear materials but weapons of mass destruction -- >> chemical weapons are considered weapons of mass destruction. >> the whole world, most of the world, came to that. you even had rohani from iran saying it looks like chemical weapons to me. >> it's been noted, the u.s. government has noted, the iranian, the new iranian president seems to be more -- more in belief that --

>> yes, thus far, behind the scenes, iran has not joined up on our side and they won't, but they've been in a back channel basis at least more accepting of the situation than the russians. the russians are really, really dug in. for some reason. i don't understand. it would be interesting for them to begin considering if an islamist extremist group ended up with chemical weapons in chechnya, how they would behave. for some reason, over syria, vladimir putin has decided to square off -- >> if you look at kosovo, we saw the "new york times" said the kosovo intervention is something the united states is looking at. there is a similar situation. the russians were allies of milosevic and they stuck by him. >> that's right, they stuck by him. i don't want to get into the details of it but that was a bit more of a dance. it was an ego, two divas, the u.s. and russia, squaring off. the russians behind the scene

were giving us other signs they would come along. this, they're dug in, in irrational ways. i think we will punish those involved with deploying those chemical weapons. >> it's tense days. the question is, when does it happen, and does it need to be done without congressional authorization? if it's done before, in the next week -- >> i think they'll get congressional authorization if they wanted it after the fact. >> always a pleasure, thank you. with the u.n. inspectors on the ground now, we'll bring you the latest on syria throughout the day. coming up now, more of this morning's first read, including a new fight, why it's republican versus republican in the race to be the next virginia governor. plus, senator ted cruz is not known for keeping quiet but he vowed to stay silent on one issue. why the tea party favorite could be in hot water with some republican colleagues in washington, but does he care. here's a look of course at the

politics planner for the day. always an impressive moment to witness at the white house when there is a new medal of honor recipient. we have a new one today at 2:00. you're watching "the daily rundown" only msnbc. before they sat down, one more time, just for themselves... before the last grandchild graced the stage, before katie and her husband hit that rough patch... before kevin finally came home and the first grandchild arrived, before the sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, and brad's brief brush with the law... man: smile. before the second british invasion... before katie, debbie, kevin, and brad...

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a lot more ahead on this monday "daily rundown." today, members of congress get a town hall pass this summer. why this summer hasn't been as heated as 2009 and what that means for next year. plus, education nation. after an historic teacher

strike, a year ago, challenges as chicago students go back to school today. a rough first day again. but at least they're going back. first, today's trivia question. when was the last time new york city elected a democratic mayor? first person to tweet the correct answer to @chucktodd and @dailyrundown gets the on-air shout out. my mother made the best toffee in the world. it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. i never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side.

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back now for more of "first read." with august winding down, schools reopening in a lot of places around the country. congress back to washington in two weeks. they get an extra summer week. one thing's for sure, 2013 doesn't look like four years ago. many learned after 2009, don't

hold them. also, unemployment rate is going down instead of up. in '09 the republican party was united in its opposition to health care, cap and trade legislation. didn't get into the details of their opposition. now the gop is divided on how to oppose it. do they defund health care? or even some are having to deal with questions on whether they should impeach the president. >> i reject that kind of talk. instead of talking about impeachment, let's have a legitimate debate, fight his policies. >> no uniting there. in 2009, virginian republican bob mcdonnell was looking like the front-runner. this year, the cuccinelli mcauliffe race is look like a coin flip. stories about green tech automatic, fledgling car company he moved to mississippi and hasn't gotten off to a booming start. all that said, a quinnipiac poll last week had mcauliffe up among likely voters.

no one on either side believes mcauliffe is up by quite that much but everyone believes he is ahead and it's clear cuccinelli's campaign is worried. in fact, so worried, they're going after mcdonnell. cuccinelli has run a good campaign but it's the issue that he can't control the gop has concluded is a serious liability. governor mcdonnell. it was just months ago they fought over who would be more like mcdonnell as a governor. in what can only be described as a stunning development, cuccinelli went negative on mcdonnell in a tv ad called facts. >> the truth, there's only one candidate under investigation, terry mcauliffe. the press calls the attacks false. a democratic commonwealth attorney cleared kucuccinelli o any wrongdoing. cuccinelli launched the investigation into bob mcdonnell and called for reform. those are the facts.

>> let's bring in the gaggle. nbc political analyst mike steele. "the washington post" post matai gold. and former democratic congressman from pennsylvania patrick murphy, with the center for american progress. matai, for the "washington post," this is a local election. >> just a small little election. >> but it was, you know, early in the week we had the buzz about the poll and some people a little surprised that the mcauliffe lead was that big. both campaigns saying yes, mcauliffe's leading. it's cuccinelli's actions that say he knows he has a problem. >> his ad spends more time defending himself. largely due to the work of my colleagues at the "post." this mcdonnell story, drip, drip, drip, has cast this incredible shadow over this race. i think what happened shows this is really dragging cuccinelli down. >> there was always this talk four months ago that terry mcauliffe was going to use the fact that he was on the side of bob mcdonnell, on the

transportation bill. and would use bob mcdonnell as a way to tell moderates, you may think i'm conservative. now it's clearly a problem that they don't know what to do. >> the problem that cuccinelli has right now, i think a lot of it, folks beginning to realize, it's reflected maybe not necessarily in this poll, but it's an undercurrent, the voters of virginia know that the governor's not going to be on the ballot. so they can't speak to that. they can't show their disgust, disda disdain, dislike for what he's done at the ballot box. the next best thing is to take it out on the leading candidate for the gop. sort of send the message. we saw this play out with voters in 2006. a lot of republicans who should have won races lost. >> they were getting beaten up over iraq and things like that. >> you see that same scenario being played out here a bit. what kush necuccinelli has to d make sure he creates a greater

separation. you're starting to see it with these ads. between him and this administration, number one. more importantly, to talk about what he's going to do to soften the whole image. >> all this is so complicated i think for both candidates because if you ask both candidates, well, what's the direction the state of virginia, you think -- do you like what's going on in virginia? government. you may not like mcdonnell's personal life. you see it in the polls. people are mad at him but they think he did a good job. >> because the economy's on an upswing. i would say mcdonnell is an anchor to cuccinelli. this is all about self-preservation. the polls show mcauliffe is the one with the wind at his back a little bit. >> think he'll run a good race so far? >> no, he has about 48% the vote. cuccinelli also can't deny the fact he also got $18,000 from --

that's huge. >> the larger point i was trying to make, this idea that '09, as much as democrats were in denial in '09, we saw the makings of this tsunami. this was a tropical depression that looked like it was going to form. if we take this weather technology. you saw this building in 2009. i don't think we know what 2014's going to look like. >> i think every time we have one of these races it just kind of reveals the discontent that still lingerselectorate. about scandals and gift giving. there's an incredible distrust of establishment government and that is playing out in almost every race. >> you're quoted very high profile in this piece that i couldn't take my eyes off this morning. for "the atlantic" on the mill len yellings. they're this sort of new class. they're so frustrated with washington that they don't see washington as a place to go to to change. they're going to try to change

government in other ways. >> they are. that's where both parties i think are going to be. have their eyes open. the millennials have a different view. they don't see grassroots the same way that traditional political figures and players do. what they see is, okay, i can get it done with an app. i can have a conversation with 1.5 million people and not have to talk to you at all. they have a very different approach in how the political landscape is important going into 2014. the tsunamis that we saw in '09 that we had a hand in helping to create at the rnc and elsewhere doesn't play out of washington anymore. it really is out across -- >> this disruptive force that's going to be out there, i think the mill len yells -- i think only a few get it, sort of this idea that there is a -- the millennials will reward people who use their powers to be a

little disruptive. >> there aren't king makers anymore. people earning their own campaigns, being very successful about it. >> i'm going to get to cruz a little bit later. it was -- it is fascinating watching cruz in action, between, especially when you look at him, going about it in different ways. cruz not helping his guy. >> not at all. if there's a king maker trying to run as fast as he can away from them. >> you're thinking, what do i have to do, you know, i mean i did -- mitch mcconnell got the rand paul help. >> cruz is a different kind of political player. we're going to see that. >> we're going to get to this conversation a little later in the show. up next, the fight to be the mayor of the largest city in the country. and the world's capital. right. while democrats are occupying the senator ring of the big apple circus, there is a republican primary going on too. we'll introduce you to the republican who's hoping history actually repeats itself. by the way, go to

rundown.msnbc.com to find out who might be the next mayor of staying a san diego and how it could impact the battle for congress. that conversation continues all day long on our facebook page. right now, 7 years of music is being streamed. a quarter million tweeters are tweeting. and 900 million dollars are changing hands online. that's why hp built a new kind of server. one that's 80% smaller. uses 89% less energy. and costs 77% less. it's called hp moonshot. and it's giving the internet the room it needs to grow. this&is gonna be big. hp moonshot. it's time to build a better enterprise. together.

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and a unibody made kevlar strong. okay google now. call my droid. the new droid ultra by motorola. when strength matters, droid does. only 16 days left till new york city's may oral primary. while the three republican candidates are running relatively low key campaigns, the three are turning on each other. quinn and thompson are closely trailing the candidate you see in the middle, de blasio. tag teaming their attacks in the most recent debate. >> unlike the public advocate who's really good at telling other people what to do but not always so good at getting things done himself. >> let's be honest with the public tonight. if we're going to have a real conversation, let's tell the

truth, bill, no more of the flip-flop or say things when it's politically convenient for you. >> the public advocate should stop misrepublican resenting th. >> will the real deblazo please stand up. >> we know who the front-runner is. "the new york times" tried to rise above the fray. they endorsed quinn and republican joseph loda. he was the budget director for operations for giuliani and chaired the metropolitan transportation authority. joe loda now joins me live. good morning, sir. >> good morning, great to be with you. >> let me ask a simple question about new york city. is it headed in the right direction or off on the wrong track? >> currently headed in the wrong direction. elections have consequences. if the wrong person is elected, we could be going in the wrong direction. >> so you're running for michael bloomberg ae

bloomberg's fourth term? is that how you characterize it? you have a very tough republican primary opponent. very well funded. but if you do get by him, is that your -- basically your cap pain platform? more of the same? >> no, my campaign platform is going to be based on the following questions. who's going to be the best person to make sure that your children get educated. who's got the best plan to deal with the fiscal problems of new york? who is going to continue to keep you safe? when it snows, who is going to pick up the garbage? that's what new yorkers care about. there's no republican or democrat way to pick up the garbage. new yorkers have shown over a long period they are independent when they vote and they're independent of the party system. ed koch when he run in '77 went for four terms. actually ran against the democratic party, had no union endorsement. we've had 12 years of leadership

under giuliani and bloomberg. i'm running for the first term of loda. >> let me ask you this, what's a major policy difference you have with bloomberg? >> one of the major differences i have is in the health area. i believe in many of the things that mike's done but i actually believe we should be educating the public before we ban things. the soda ban for example. while it may seem small, to hme the role of government is not to tell you what to do or not to do but educate you on what's the best thing to do. >> where are you on stop and frisk? >> i am the son of a new york city cop, the brother of a new york city cop. i believe stop, question and frisk is a tool that was given to police officers all around the united states by the supreme court in 1968. when properly used, it can

proactively be used to reduce crime. i am a firm believer in continuing the use of stop, question and frisk. we need to educate the public more about what's allowed. we also need to make sure our police officers are trained and retrained as to how to use it. >> interesting, you have the word "question" in there. how do you do the stop and frisk without the slippery slope of getting into profiling people on the street? >> it's all about suspicion. if there's suspicious activity -- the reason why i say stop, question and frisk, it was chief justice earl warren, not the most conservative member of the court who wrote an 8-1 opinion in 1968 and he called it stop, question and frisk. it's been shortened to stop and frirv frisk because of headline writers. the most important thing is one, there's suspicious activity. the court ruling lays out exactly what suspicious activity is. after the stop, there needs to be a question. the critical component of the process. based on that the police officer

has a right to frisk. it goes to stop, question, then, if necessary, frisk. hundreds of thousands of these stops in new york have ended up just with the question. >> i got to ask you this as a republican, do you think "the new york times" endorsement helps you or hurts you? >> i believe all endorsements help me. i'm running for both the republican primary. i received "the new york post" endorsement today. i'm expecting more endorsements as the week goes on. i feel very comfortable and very happy that "the new york times" is endorsing. >> are you comfortable endorsing if you don't win the primary and the opponent does, are you comfortable endorsing him for mayor or is that not a given? >> that's a hypothetical. it's not going to happen. i'm going to win this primary fair and square. >> but you're not automatically saying you'll endoers the republican -- >> i'm already on the conservative party line and the education first line. i'm prepared to run all the way through. >> even if you do not get the republican line but get one of the other ones? >> it's not going to happen,

chuck. >> all right. joe loda. thanks for coming on the show. it's going to meet you. stay safe on the campaign trail. up next, we're going live to chicago. it's back to school day there. and remember, it was a rough time a year ago. is it getting any better with chicago schools? plus, in the republican rumble, the key differences between ted cruz and rand paul and what it could mean for the 2016 race for the white house. first, the white house soup of the day. it's monday, it's ribollita. it's a great soup to say, i don't know if it's a great one to taste. we'll be right back. s. and after 1 wedding, 2 kids, 43 bottles of total effects, and many birthdays, still looks amazing. now add a boost with new olay moisturizer plus serum. [ crisp crunches ] whoo-hoo-hoo! guess it was. [ male announcer ] pringles, bursting with more flavor.

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securing equal rights and opportunities for women everywhere. this might be the most controversial first day of school in chicago's history. one of the most controversial one since the last one. mayor emanuel closed 50 elementary schools, forcing thousands of kids to take more dangerous routes just to get to class. i know everybody's monitoring how the morning's going. there's all sorts of new ways that the city is trying to protect kids as they walk to new bus stops, things like that. but a year ago, we couldn't even see the chicago schools open on time. what is the state of play this morning? >> so far, chuck, everything seems to be going well. there's no reports of any problems. as you say, the school system that opens today really is very different from the one that opened last year and it has been reshaped in rahm emanuel's vision. 47 fewer elementary schools. about 2,000 fewer workers. as you say, 12,000 students are

going to new elementary schools. what are called the welcoming schools in the system. displaced by those 47 closures. and because of the violence in chicago, because of the gun violence on the streets, although the chicago police statistics show, and correctly, that murders are down by about 25% from last year, shootings are down by about 25% from last year. murders are on a pace to be at the lowest level since 1965. but there are still violent incidents on the streets. so to protect those kids who are going to new schools, a lot of them crossing gang territory, crossing over gang turf, borderlines, they have implemented a safe passage program. it's about $11.4 million. they're taking city workers, not just police, but water, sewer workers, parking enforcement,

city workers and also community activists, to be on these routes they've designated to be safe. they've boarded up abandoned houses on these routes. all to make sure these kids get back and forth safely. the idea, get to know the kids, get to hear what they're talking about. any concerns they spot, they hear, and try to head it off, to try to make the school year as safe as possible. >> all of this is well and good and the first couple of weeks, they really have this commitment to do this year long, and then the second question i have for you, what are these -- we know the schools that are closed. is there a different set of standards that mayor emanuel has for these new elementary schools? >> he has -- some of the schools have added programs, these welcoming schools. especially some science technology, engineering, mathematics programs. but at the same tie, he is also opening new charter schools.

schools that are not run by the chicago public school system. and the teachers would quickly point out are not covered by union contracts. so they're -- most of the closures have been on the south side. predominantly black. and on the west side, predominantly hispanic. that has opened up political debates in this city. and the commitment is to keep this up. it is going -- these safe passage workers are working from 5:00 a.m. till 5:00 p.m. a lot of money. the police is already stretched thin on overtime costs. and those costs are just going to keep going up. chuck. >> all right, john yang. it's an interesting story that a lot of urban communities around the country are watching to see what the mayor is doing in chicago. that's why we're watching it. thanks very much. trivia time. we asked, when was the last time new york city elected a democratic mayor? think about that.

it was in the '80s when democratic defeated giuliani to become new york city's first black mayor. we have three decadesway since the last time new york city elected a democratic mayor. send your questions to daily rundown@msnbc.com. it's true, every road trip i did then, high school and college, that year, this horrible song kept coming up over and over again. i'll be right back. [ shapiro ] at legalzoom, you can take care of virtually

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the tension between the tea party and the republican party establishment has lessened in some places and ratcheted up in others. kentucky rand paul is backing

missi mitchell mcconnell and ted cruz no point of supporting his opponent. i think senator cornyn is a good man and a friend. he and i have worked side-by-side on a great many issues fighting for texas and fighting for conservative principles. i think it is likely that i am going to stay out of incumbent primaries across the country. either supporting incumbents or opposing incumbents. i think it's likely that i'm going to stay out of them. >> what does cruz's tell us about his future plans? we bring back the gaggle. michael, i'll go with you on this one. you're former head of the rnc. ted cruz on one hand i look at it and he thinks, hey, i was a challenger to the establishment. the establishment did everything they could to defeat me. what does he owe the

establishment? in many ways consistent for him not to back cornyn but did cornyn work his tail off for cruz's endorsement. >> did he that for good reason because he knows he needs to have the tea party around him. cruz is very definitely saying you know what? i'm not going to play with any incumbent around the country which, by the way, means you too, mr. cornyn. cruz is cutting his own path and he is doing so in a way that is really putting a lot of the establishment types back on their heels because they don't know how to get their hands around this guy to bring him in. he is not going to come in the door the way they want him to, number one. if gets inside the room, trust me, is most elikely to turn the table over. >> i think he accepted a position with the rnc. so why? i want to know why did he. what is the point? he probably ought to resign that position. because the number one job is to reelect its incumbents and they will tell you that and why they

sport ensy. an extraordinary circumstance when they didn't support an incumbent. >> the tea party want to climb the ladder i think they have decided that the most dangerous place to stand is near an establishment republican. so you see this in mitchell mcconnell's race today. >> you bring up the point that i think is fascinating watching ted cruz and rand paul. they are supposedly very similar, although paul is libertarian streak i think is much stronger than ted cruz's but rand paul says i want to take over the republican party so i'm going to help mitchell mcconnell. >> and mcconnell was against him years ago. i think ted cruz quite frankly is a hypocrite. he is not endorsing any candidates but gave money to cornyn and saying i'm against

obama care. he signed up constituents in texas saying he is going to do it. texas, by the way, has 6 million people that don't have health insurance. >> would it be worse if he wasn't helping the constituent understand a government program? >> when he is charging against it yet he still -- again, he is not pure in that sense. so that's why people get frustrated. it's easy to play to the crowd the tea party crowd in new hampshire and iowa. but the fact he has given his own leadership packed money to cornyn and doing behind the scenes stuff and that is not genuine. >> the work with the nrc. their number one goal is to keep its incumbents -- >> recognize what he brings to the table. it's his signature on a letter that generates the money. he doesn't have to go around the country to campaign. >> let's go to rand paul. michael, you watch him. i feel like ted cruz is building his own brand. rand paul seems to be interested in taking over the republican party. >> rand paul -- >> seems to be a difference.

>> a big difference and i think is fascinating to watch from my perspective at least is what rand paul is doing is much more about building a new institution. >> that's what it means. building his vision which is more like its original roots in libertarianism as opposed to what it has become since reagan left office. this party today is not the party of reagan and rand paul knows it. that is his hook. >> that is going to be interesting to watch. ted cruz wants to have his clean as clean as it can be from the establishment. shameless plug? you first? >> as a daughter of a recently retired kindergartner teacher, shout out to all of the teachers getting their kids ready for school. >> go to national parks because they could be shut down four weeks from now. >> a pretty good one. you're right! fair enough. >> as we get ready for the sequester conversation and a conversation about health care on the grio what republicans can

do to help get front of this argument. >> i don't know if they will get in front of it. they seem to let themselves stay behind it. that's is it for "the daily rundown." the 50 anniversary of the march on washington tomorrow and a story on the national museum of african-american history and culture and we will discuss how our country has changed and hasn't. as detroit struggles with debt we are talk to a mayoral hopeful, benny napoleon. all of that is coming up tomorrow. next up is chris jansing and co. i'm meteorologist bill karins. it's a hot august afternoon from texas all the way up to minnesota. there will be some afternoon storms, even late evening thunderstorms in new england and few areas in florida. the airports should be okay overall. out west the fire and air

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government used chemical weapons and now it appears the white house is considering military options. among them cruise missiles shot from navy destroyers and submarines in the mediterranean. >> we cannot sit here. we have to move and move quickly. >> this has to be an international operation. it can't be unilateral american approach. >> to think we can change things immediately because we are america, that's not necessarily the case. these are internal struggles and the party insiders in the country are going to have to sort it out amongst themselves. >> i hope the president, as soon as we get back to washington, will ask for authorization from congress to do something at a very surgical and proportional way. something that gets their attention and causes them to understand that we are not going to put up with this kind of activity. >> ayman moi yelledin is covering this from